
John Peters
John Peters came to the world’s attention in January 1991, when his bruised and battered face flashed onto television screens around the world. It was his disfigured image that became a potent symbol of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless aggression.
John Peters's videos
What John Peters's clients say
"Your address was truly excellent. The sustained applause for you was almost unstoppable."
"Not only was John an excellent presenter he was also an organiser's dream in both his professionalism, his flexibility and his genuine enthusiasm in mixing and mingling with the delegates after the session."
"The effect you provoked was extraordinary. You made an outstanding, brave and emotionally honest presentation which moved and inspired us all. What you communicated about how you felt and what you had learnt about yourself touched a chord, I know, in every individual present - in a unique and profound way."
"To be in a room containing over 200 people with total silence was awesome and I can't remember that ever happening before. I don't know if you were aware of the silence but there wasn't a single cough, any sound of people whispering or shuffling, just stillness. I think that some people had even forgotten to breathe!"
"Anyone who has had the privilege of listening to you speak cannot be anything other than impressed by your attitude to life and your determination, courage and integrity. Yours is a gripping and extremely moving story. Everyone to whom I have spoken since your presentation has unreservedly said that it was excellent."
"Continue to have inspiring external and motivational speakers. John Peters was amazing..... I took a lot away from his story at a personal level."
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- English
John Peters's 2025 biography
About John Peters
His dramatic and sometimes harrowing experiences reach deep into our innermost minds, showing us how we can overcome even our worst fears and nightmares. His war was not all as he expected – it became a seven-week ordeal of torture and interrogation testing John Peters to the absolute limit and bringing him close to death.
John is an experienced speaker of international repute to corporates, public sector and charities. He was the sole reader representing the British Armed Forces at the National Gulf Memorial Service, in front of Her Majesty, The Queen and presented the Sir James Martin Lecture at the Royal Aeronautical society in the presence of Prince Philip and followed Mr Nelson Mandela on stage in South Africa. He has written two best-selling books and the documentary, ‘Tornado Down’ was Independent Documentary of the Year and a BAFTA Award Nominee. He has extensive international TV, radio, PR and Media experience.
During his RAF career, he flew Tornado GR1 on various squadrons and then, within the MoD, he led programmes on leadership, safety and human error in aviation. Using this experience, on leaving the RAF, he founded a management consultancy providing business critical development, consulting and coaching – through a leadership lens. His company, Monkey Business, provides expertise on leadership, strategy and innovation for senior business teams.
Clients include Capital One, Virgin media, NDS, Lloyds Bank. He is Fellow of Kingston Business School and Henley Business School and a former Chair of the Association of MBAs and Associate Professor at RANEPA in Moscow. Married with two grown up children, he is a Trustee of the RAF Club, a RAFA Ambassador, a former Chair of the Association of MBAs, is Patron to KidsOut, a charity supporting abused children and a Governor of Worcester Royal Grammar School.
John Peters's 2025 talks & topics
Dark Days, Black Box…to White Light
We all have dark days. My darkest days were in 1991; Remember pictures on television? Or more likely, now, seen on The History Channel! I was a Tornado pilot shot down and captured and held as a POW for 7 weeks. I know what it is like to be isolated, vulnerable and alone. It is a sad reality of modern life’: there is an anxiety epidemic, not necessarily in numbers but how we cope given the increasing isolation and individualisation of society. And now with Corvid 19, we are living in our own cells.
How do you cope with uncertainty, uphold mental wellbeing, and grit it out? How do you deal with the unexpected and manage the pressure? I will cover what happened to me and what I learned from my time as a POW, the mindset that I developed and techniques that I have used since in my business life. This is about resilience, mental toughness and dealing with vulnerabilities. I hope that my insights will resonate with you and are useful during these unprecedented times.
– What resilience is and why it is so important
– How to recognise and manage your attitudes, emotions and behaviours
– Strategies that will enable you to develop your resilience and improve your performance
What value do you create for others?
The theory was that recessions promote more dog-eat-dog style behaviour, and therefore less collaboration. Research has found a clear correlation between the wider economy and a belief that success is ‘zero-sum’. All of which underlines the importance of creating the right culture so that collaborative behaviours flourish even when employees are sorely tempted to look out for number one.
Using examples from Aviation, Medicine, Law and High-Performance Sport, this speech highlights the power of collaboration, what behaviours generate the best collaboration why collaborative cultures achieve better performance.
– Why be collaborative?
– Silos Kill Businesses
– Collaborative vs Performance…Driving workplace agility
– Human Factors – Speed; Depth and Breadth of Learning: Only everyone knows the right answer.
– Learning from Chickens: Red Zone vs Green Zone
– What makes a collaborative leader?
– Tips to Build Collaborative Culture: Real-world examples
Leadership: Resilience in Turbulent Times
With an overview of John’s experience as a POW , he looks at the challenges facing contemporary leaders and how the pressures of uncertainty are affecting people using the latest research from CMI.
Exploring how as leaders you can set the culture, how their character affects everyone and how to be able to create adaptive organisations making the business brain learn faster.
John’s innovative in his approach and is very credible as an expert in the subject, using his own experiences to excellent affect.
The human face of war
In a reflective, provocative and inclusive speech, John explores how he overcame his Prisoner of War ordeal and faced death.
Far from a story of doom and gloom, he uses humour and candour, which is both personal, emotive and challenging.
Using his experiences, he provides a personal view on resilience, and how to turn impossible…to possible.
A business adviser since 2000, he relates his experiences to challenge audiences to reflect on how they change out-dated success habits that are no longer relevant in a changing world.